Comments on: “Where do I download OpenSolaris?”

By: JRZ

JRZ — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 20:43:54 +0000

I want to second the request for a good VMware image of the latest Solaris version. A VM image is by far the simplest way for a newcomer to try out a new OS — there’s no need to wipe a system clean and no concern about possible hardware incompatibilities.
However, Sun’s past attempts have had lots of little problems (well documented here: http://atucker.typepad.com/blog/) like missing VMware tools, etc. Sun also decided not to put up a VM for its latest developer edition, which is the main reason why I haven’t tried it yet. You could also add an entry in VMware’s virtual appliance marketplace to help folks find the Solaris image in the future.

By: Trent J. Townsend

Trent J. Townsend — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:12:14 +0000

I am very much looking forward to having access to an “official” OpenSolaris binary distribution.

I’d very much like to see OpenSolaris *NOT* snowball into 300 different distributions that differ mainly in package management and file system layout, with random kernel configurations for that additional ‘fun’ or flavor.

By: datakid

datakid — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:45:47 +0000

It needs drivers and support. I eventually was sent the discs in the mail, and tried to install it under VMWare in Feisty. It took me most of the night to still not have the network card configured, and it was difficult to get easy access to the information required – expecially since the Solaris/OpenSolaris distinction seemed to get in the way? I recommend as easy download….followed by either an easy install with fantastic desktop hardware recognition OR better forums and support.

By: Bryan Boone

Bryan Boone — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:44:47 +0000

I agree with making Solaris distros like Linux ones as well. As a long time user of Debian, the release model is the thing that’s kept me coming back (I’ve tried a lot of distros and made a lot of cd drink coasters). I’ve also tried SolarisExpress, Belenix, Nexenta, and Solaris “proper”. Coming from the Linux world, Solaris “proper” had default disk partitioning “goofyness” where I ran out of parition space on a 300 gb drive. SolarisExpress was really a pleasure to work except there was the “goofyness” of not being able to register with Sun’s site for automatic update (some java proxy class kept crashing) Belenix, well, the liveCD worked, but when installed the initial ramdisk couldn’t get created, and finally Nexenta, which seemed to have a lot of promise failed to work after I did a dist-upgrade to the latest version.

Maybe I’m odd, but I had hopes of actually using the OS for may daily work. As far as Java development goes, there’s no other platform that could outperform Solaris (and it’s children) I have 64 bit chips, so using an OS that could use the power and having programs that didn’t have to be recompiled for 64 bit was a big plus. Additionally, JavaDesktop was almost seemless with the gnome environment. By far, it seemed that Solaris and SolarisExpress were the most stable. (except the quirks mentioned)

I for one think that if it can be done, this is the way. The quirks can even be overlooked if I could only mount samba shares via fstab. I know Sun would like Solaris everywhere, but it just isn’t the case right now;)

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:42:28 +0000

I personally agree with the approach of making (Open)Solaris more like a Linux distro. I spent a little while having a look at opensolaris.org and the solaris pages on sun.com and I ended up alittle confused on what was what. I don’t think it is clear what is opensolaris express, developer express and solaris. I think that following a similar approach to the likes of Red Hat (with Fedora/RHEL) and Novell (openSUSE,SLE) who seem to be able to define and clearly(ish) differentiate the differences between their ‘community’ releases and ‘enterprise’ ones.

By: Eric Dujardin

Eric Dujardin — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:47:28 +0000

The driver issue should be addressed if you want Joe User be confident that his complete hardware is supported before downloading. This is
a lot a work. One way to solve that in a generic way is to run Solaris
aside a Linux kernel more or less stripped down to its board support package (Okay you could also run Solaris in user mode on top of Linux but
then you lose on the performance side and probably also some nice kernel features ). So for all pieces of hardware that are not supported, on the Solaris side you just implement generic drivers, and the real hardware is supported on the Linux side.

By: itomato

itomato — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:10:25 +0000

I am really loving Solaris after flirting since 8. All the good stuff, Zones, ZFS, Dtrace, etc., are well known and all good, to be sure.

After realizing what a ‘clean’ and ‘orderly’ environment I was using (simplicity of ZFS, zones), not to mention the apparent responsiveness (I swear I can feel fewer ridges between clock-ticks) and reading through a style guide (in re: scripting init and such), it dawned on me:

It’s going to take people going to Solaris from Linux world taking the time to adapt to the way things can and are being done in Solaris, from the user interface, downward to the kernel. Adjusting to differences in development process, attention to detail, while keeping true “Enterprise-level” integrity.

It’s the transition from the anything-goes, “let’s package it up and watch it go”, “hey watch this”, hooting and hollering happening with Linux, and using “inside voices” and being Computer Scientists for a change that’s going to produce the headaches.

Nexenta offers an interesting look, and provides crucial overlap in understanding the connections between Solaris, OpenSolaris, Debian, and Ubuntu, KNOPPIX, etc.

A long-time Debian-family user will no doubt be at home in Nexenta, generally speaking. Some of the “Solaris-ness” is buffed of in favor of “GNU-ness”, but if someone pulled an “Instant Coffee Switch”, and swapped a Nexenta (when it had a desktop) machine in for a Ubuntu machine, not a lot of people would notice until they went for the kernel.

That difference is magnified a level as you approach Sun’s logoed product. The tools change, and with it the level of integration, managability, and quality of services provided.

I’d say your gap is bridged, you just need to get life flowing through it.

By: Sándor Lengyel

Sándor Lengyel — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:43:54 +0000

Packages, Packages and Packages.

I have Nexenta now.
Opensolaris (Nexenta) detected all my new hardware devices,including UAA audio. So I do not have problem with the kernel itself.
With a small modification I can, it seems! compile all the programs in pkgsrc, although Nexenta also provides them with Apt-get..
However the choice in packages is strongly limited compared to Ubuntu, Gentoo or Debian.
So the primary effort should be increasing the package availability.

By: Terry

Terry — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:32:01 +0000

Having experienced the hash Sun makes of OpenOffice.org (actually the name of the software!), why would I be interested in Solaris of any kind?

By: Indigo Jo Blogs

Indigo Jo Blogs — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:59:58 +0000

The current crop of Linux distributions

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